McCrae Lake is a wonderful
area that has easy access for canoers, kayakers and hikers to enjoy
the beautiful, wild nature of the Canadian Shield and Georgian
Bay. You may park your car at the parking area and enjoy
excellent access to both the 5 Winds hiking trail and the McDonald
Lake canoe launch point. Either way it'll be a great
day.
Please NOTE... this is a very
accessable area and it will be crowded in peak season, week ends
and holidays. Always practice CITO.
Parking Area: N44
55.325, W079 46.636
CANOE or
HIKE?
We placed 3 caches in the area
on April 26th, 2009 and another 2 on May 7, 2011. Of the
five, one needs to be hiked to, one can be canoed or hiked
to, two will require a long hike or a paddle and some
hiking and one will likely need to be canoed to unless you
feel comfortable wading a fast stream. If you wanted to try
all five by hiking you would require a full day and should be
prepared to cover more than 20K. I would reccommend an
overnight stay. By canoe you can reach the furthest cache in
about one hour and spend some time exploring the very interesting
area for a while. There is a beautiful cliff top view of the
bay and there is one shrine and a cliff side crucifix that must be
a couple of Meters in size. Maybe you'd like to continue on
to Georgain Bay? You can continue to follow the trail and
explore more of the Georgian Bay coastline if you have managed
to get over to the final cache. If you are canoeing, you can
continue heading about NW between Bone Island and the mainland up
to the mouth of the Musquash river to explore the old Muskoka Mills
and a little further upstream you may want to have a look at the 3
Rock Chute on the Gibson. Lots to see and do here. Make
it a day or make it a week.
"Chuck
and Kevin get a little Erratic"
The Second cache we
placed on our May 7, 2011 hiking trip. This cache is accessed
from the 5 Winds Hiking trail about a Km or so from the point where
McCrae Lake enters Georgian Bay. We placed the cache on our
way back from the bay where we spent about an hour soaking our feet
in the VERY cold water. The views at the water edge are
amazing and well worth the hike but be warned that it is almost 10K
from the parking area. From here you may be able to
access a small shrine located near the outlet of
McCrae Lake and there is a Large cross at the top of the
hill that may also be accessible form here. Sorry I
don't have coords but it is visible form the other side of the bay.
You could pitch a tent in a couple of spots here if you were
so inclined, we saw several established places for
them. The cache is a Medium Size Ammo can with minimal swag
items in it hidden in an area that should be obvious by the
name of the cache. PLEASE be careful and watch your timing in
here, it took us almost 8 hours to hike in and out.
